Watching the watchmen

Soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh responded to Team Anna’s accusation of him abusing his position to give pecuniary benefits to private parties in the allotment of coal blocks, everyone jumped onto the bandwagon. Barkha Dutt tweeted: ‘Team Anna is having to deal with what politicians have known forever — the public can be infamously inconsistent.’ Pallavi Ghosh added: ‘Just wondering whether supporting Team Anna is the only way to prove that one is honest. Questioning them makes you corrupt!’ According to Aditya Raj Kaul, ‘Manmohan Singh should prove his honesty by announcing an independent probe against cabinet ministers accused of graft.’ And from Joydas: ‘Those who are saying Team Anna has lost it, sorry, your observation is late by at least a year.’

The loss is ours The possibility of another pointless Bharat bandh was a trending topic for a while. As someone using the handle KnotJinx put it: ‘Bharat Bandh again? Tell me something new.’ Kiran Kumar S pointed out: ‘If a bandh could bring down petrol prices, a Telangana state would have been there long ago, thanks to numerous bandhs.’ Tushar A. Gandhi had a question: ‘Will the BJP enforce the bandh in states where its government levies taxes on petrol too?’ And from aCoolFunnyTweetTypo: ‘Those who plan to get married tomorrow, relax! It’s Bharat bandh, not Baaraat bandh.’

What we don’t like ‘50 things I hate’ was another topic clogging timelines, yielding these among other examples: ‘People who talk too much’, ‘people who sneeze without covering their mouth’, ‘forgetting a towel after I shower’, ‘people who borrow things without asking’ and ‘people who think they are better than someone based on material things.’

The last word From American comedian Garry Shandling: ‘Human beings are too immature to live without regulations. We crave discipline, but act like we don’t. I might be thinking of marriage.’